NCBA Hall of Fame Personal Biographies

Lee Hansel

Inducted February 19, 1994

Lee E. Hansel is 87 years old at the time of this writing, (1993).

His birthday is November 19, 1906.

He has been shooting a bow and arrow since he "was a kid" as he stated in a recent interview, probably in excess of 82 years.








Below are listed some of the organizations and projects Lee has been involved in:

  • 1) Member (1955 through 1969) and President of Gaston Archers (I met Lee for the first time during this time). Their range was located in Gaston County on some land Lee owned. The range had 42 targets.
  • 2) Lee said that Gaston Archers was a local chapter of the North Carolina Archery Association and put on archery shoots for the state association as well as their club. He remembers when they would work with the Boy Scouts and teach them archery skills. They had week-long shoots (safari rounds) in Greenville, South Carolina. All bows were long bows and recurves, no sights, purely instinctive shooting, and lots of fun! They shot at Keowee Bowhunters range. Lee said he and his brother, Ed, shot bows in 1964, and Ed was the Southeastern Champ. In 1963 Ed was Intermediate Champ in Chicago, Illinois. They also set up the archery rounds for Boy Scouts at Camp Bud Shield in the North Carolina mountains.
  • 3) Lee hunted with Leon D. Owen, Buddy Graham, Zellie Miller, Jack Sipe, and Ron Freeze. He was good friends with Fred Bear, Howard Hill, and Ben Pearson. They hunted at times all across the United States. Lee hunted Uwharrie National Forest, Blackbeard and Bull Island in South Carolina. He said that a Ferry Boat would take them to the island and come back in a week or two to pick them up. He killed his first deer, a spike buck, in Francis Marion National Forest. He has hunted in British Columbia, Alaska, Wyoming, Idaho, etc.
  • 4) Lee killed two Pope & Young black bears on the same hunt with arrows made by his son Jack's scout troop. One bear scored 18 6/16, the other scored 18 2/16. They were in the first edition of Pope & Young and ranked in at 186 and 211. He also took a cougar in Colorado. I hope to score this skull soon, could be Pope & Young.
  • 5) Lee said Herb Puckett was an Archery Instructor in 1969 and taught many people.

Lee still tries to get out to do a little bowhunting each year, but his health prohibits him from doing as much as he'd like to do. His love of archery has consumed a significant portion of his life. He has given his time and talent to so many who otherwise would not have given the sport of archery a second thought. Lee knows and remembers hunts and the good times as well as all of the friends he's made throughout his hunting career. I can say that Lee is second-to-none in my book, and I enjoyed interviewing him tremendously.

Lee was inducted in 1994 at an NCBA Banquet in Salisbury, NC

Nominated by: David Allen, NCBA President (1993)

| 1.14.2010 |